The Perils of a Good Day at Work
by The Karlminion
Summary: Ayame has a job to do, but Tesshu is after the same target. It is a dark, stormy night...


_This would be my first Tenchu fic, with another on the way soon. It is slightly AU, as the characters may be a tad out of their usual modes. Still, though, give me credit for writing it, eh?_

_Disclaimer: Tesshu, Ayame, and Rikimaru are not mine; they belong to Activision, as far as I know._

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The Perils of a Good Day at Work  
A Tenchu Story**_  
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It was drawing towards nightfall as a young woman shrouded in a rough cloak made of sacking walked along the beaten dirt road towards the village. She appeared nothing more than a peasant girl, hurrying home to get out of the approaching storm; the guards at the gate didn't even ask her business, merely waving her on in as they shivered in the wind. "Better hurry up, girl," one of them called out as they closed the gate again. "That's one big storm we're gonna get!"

The girl did not reply, intent as she was on her destination. The village streets were thankfully empty, thought not without the usual guards and flickering lamps and torches to light the oncoming darkness. The chill wind blew gently at the moment, though it would be escalating at any moment, signaling the full onslaught of the storm, which the weather sages and old men predicted would indeed be fierce. The girl knew all this, and a great deal more; she was no ordinary girl.

Once she knew she was out of sight, she ducked into a shadowy corner between two houses and threw the sacking off her, revealing a lithe, athletic body clothed in light leather armor; equipment hung from a heavy belt at her waist, and two daggers lurked in their sheaths. Focusing grimly, she whipped the daggers out with only a faint whisper of steel, and brought them forward in a combat stance. While the light still lingered in the sky, she warmed herself up with a quick series of movements and attacks, then settled back to await the storm.

As she waited, she recited a series of instructions to herself. "Rogue statesman, guilty of kidnapping and raping girls from surrounding villages and farms. Zanza Dashiki is his name; strike during the big storm. Guy has mercenaries, blah blah blah…" It sounded rote, as if she'd memorized the lines and recited them many times before. She had also memorized a face to go with the name…

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Elsewhere, at a doctor's office, the sole occupant of the building was closing up for the night, after seeing his last patient out the door. He was not a short man, but his body bulged with muscle and sinew, and his deft, sensitive hands flexed this way and that, causing his wrists to bulge and sway. His bald head gleamed briefly as he moved about the outer room, cleaning up after the day's work. He was very good at what he did; physician, acupuncturist, surgeon. Even a bit of herb lore and potion-brewing.

Everyone knew these things about him; what almost no one knew was that at night, he took on a different role. All day, an envelope had sat in an unassuming corner of his desk, plain and unmarked; his patients had not noticed it, had not even any reason to glance in its direction. The doctor, though, had been keenly aware of it all day, knowing what it would contain; instructions, a photograph of a person, a map or some directions. Always in the same slightly tenuous handwriting, as if the hand that held the pen shook a very little as it wrote.

The doctor completed his nightly routine, then sat down at his desk and finally opened the envelope, reading its contents by the light of the final candle:

_Tesshu,_

_Your target tonight is one you know well; a statesman and government official in your village. His name is Zanza Dashiki, and the contractors claim he has kidnapped and raped several young women, or overseen such. His position makes him immune to official retribution; your skills are needed tonight._

_Move during the coming storm, to ensure secrecy and silence. Be careful, however; Dashiki is paranoid, and has hired mercenary warriors and ronin to defend him even at night. They will not be as complacent as the normal guards._

_Good luck, and do not fail.  
Zanosuke._

"Short and sweet as always, eh, Boss?" the doctor snorted, chuckling as he lowered the letter over the flame of the candle; it burned swiftly, soaked as it was in paraffin and oil. He did not bother looking at the picture; he knew Dashiki, everyone knew him. He'd been waiting for this order, in fact.

When the letter was burnt, he carefully disposed of the ashes and opened a locked drawer in his desk. Inside were some bracelets, a glove, and a long, thin needle; he slipped the glove and bracelets on, and slid the needle into a special slit in his gi. Then he slipped outside the house, doused the lamps there, and jumped to the roof and hunched over, to wait for the storm.

It was not long in coming; with a sudden crash of thunder and lightning, the dark skies opened up, dumping a torrent of water onto the ground below. As if waiting for a signal, two shadowy forms leaped out from their hiding places and went into action, neither one making a single sound as they dashed for their target…

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"Stupid guards," Ayame muttered, slicing the throat of yet another mercenary as she crept towards Dashiki's house. She'd been lucky so far, avoiding outright detection, though she'd nearly slipped up a few times and alerted the guards, despite the rain and incessant thunder. Fortunately, she'd remembered the animal whistle this time, and it had come in handy more then once.

Hastily she dragged the newest corpse out of immediate sight, leaving it just visible from the opposite path as she leapt atop a small hutch and crouched in the shadows. The other mercenary walked on his path, oblivious to his missing fellow, until a lightning strike illuminated something in the corner of his eye. Frowning, he hurried over to investigate, discovering the body of his dead comrade! "NINJA!" he shouted above the rain, yanking his sword free and alerting the others in the area. Ayame's _ki_ senses went wild as those alerted were shook out of their wet misery and focused on their job, until one by one they all shook it off and went back to their monotonous beats.

The last to relax his guard was the one who'd set it off in the first place, and on him the kunoichi focused. She allowed a small slip in her form just as lightning struck; alerted by a flicker of black in the corner of his eye, the mercenary spun around, fumbling for his sword again, but he was too late; Ayame's daggers found his gut, ripping it open and spilling his blood and digestive juices everywhere. She let him fall, and he moaned and thrashed feebly in his death throes before laying still. Ayame peered down at the dead corpse for a second, eyes blank, before she shook her daggers clean of muck and leapt out of sight again.

Much later, as the storm was finally beginning to abate, the kunoichi finally drew near to her target's home. Sighing, she allowed herself to relax, knowing there were no other foes in the area. Relaxing would prove a mistake, though, as she missed the moment when Dashiki was alerted by someone else. Panicking, Ayame focused again, just in time to detect another warrior presence in his home! "No!" she cried, dashing forward, heedless of detection...

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Inside the house of Dashiki, the owner sat primly before a crackling fire, awaiting intruders. He was awarded at the sound of a deliberate step in the hall beyond; he knew it was deliberate, from the very fact that he had heard it at all. "You give yourself away too early," he called out, still at ease, though he reached casually for his blade.

"Perhaps," a low, dangerous male voice replied, as the doorway was pulled open. "Or perhaps I'm just tired of skulking around and want a challenge."

Dashiki smirked and stood, turning to face his would-be killer with sword in hand. "Fujioka?" he asked, mildly surprised. "Hmmph, I never would have guessed… Ah well, no matter. You will die by my blade!" Smirking again, he whipped his sword free of its scabbard and took up a stance. "And you're all wet, too. How… embarrassing."

Tesshu just smirked. "You're already dead, Dashiki," he replied, "you just don't know it." He pulled a small yellow ball from his bag and threw it at Dashiki's feet, immediately throwing his arm over his eyes. Dashiki shouted and charged, but the ball exploded in a blinding flash of light, confusing and disorienting the man. Tesshu leaped forward, needle in hand, and seized Dashiki by the neck, spinning him about and burying the needle through his spine. Dashiki jerked, made a surprised sort of squeal, and slumped forward.

"Hmmph," Tesshu muttered, flinging the blood from his needle with a quick flick of his wrist. He held it up to his eyes to check it, then put it back in its slit. "Now to get out of here… hmm? What's this…?"

He'd broken off at the sound of the front door being flung open; quickly, Tesshu dropped into a fighting stance, pulling a hood from his shirt and dropping it over his head as an afterthought. Light feet dashed along the halls, followed by the appearance of an out-of-breath girl in black leather, daggers clutched in her hands. She quickly took in the scene, then glared at Tesshu. "You took my target!" she exclaimed in frustration, raising her blades. "I guess I'll have to kill you too." With no other alert then this she ran ahead, slashing at Tesshu's stomach.

He sidestepped the attack, however, seizing her arm and wrist in a wrestling grab. She wriggled away before he could snap her arm, whirling back with a pinwheel kick to his head; it connected, knocking him aside but doing no real damage.

"Hehe… you're good, girl," he muttered appreciatively, cracking his knuckles. Ayame gaped for a second; that attack was supposed to have knocked him out! Had she missed the critical spot? "You're ok too, I suppose," she muttered back, focusing more intently. She knew she couldn't keep this up; she would whittle away at him with her attacks in the hope of wearing him down, but eventually he would pierce her guard, and she didn't fancy being on the business end of one of those fists.

"But you're too slow!" she said with a laugh, nimbly leaping backward to avoid his left jab. "Didn't they teach you in school that blades beat bare fists?" That made Tesshu frown, and he lowered his guard.

"You've got a smart mouth too, little girl," he replied, as a bunch of little needles suddenly appeared in his hand. He threw them forward; they spread out, then converged again on Ayame, who'd never seen an attack like that and didn't know how to dodge it. All the needles pierced her, bringing blood to her skin and a cry from her lips. In the moment of distraction, Tesshu rushed forward, bringing his fists up; one to her ribs, another to the jaw, and after a second to gather power, a final devastating smash, right in her gut.

The force of the blow was such that Ayame was thrown backward into the rice paper wall, dazed and wracked with pain. She slumped to the floor, moaning and twitching as she tried to get up. Tesshu didn't wait, stepping forward and seizing her by the neck and hauling her to her feet. One hand easily held up her slight frame, while the other held that long, thin needle to her eye. "Any last words, kunoichi?" he growled.

Ayame could clearly see her death, mere second away, but she did not flinch. "An… Azuma ninja… does not… fear… death…" she whispered, glaring defiantly back at him. He paused, cocking his head to the side.

"Azuma?" he muttered, regarding her with a new expression on his blunt countenance. "Ahh… a kunoichi. One of Gohda's lapdogs, I expect." Then he sighed and put Ayame back on the ground. "My boss told me never to pick a fight with the Azuma ninja," he explained, putting his needle away. He pulled a roll of bandages and some rice balls from his bag, tossing them at her feet. "Use those and get back to your clan. Tell them your mark was already taken by the Muzen." He turned, waving his hand as he left. "I've got to go now, Azuma. See you around."

Ayame was surprised, to say the least. "Muzen…?" she muttered, panting as she recovered her strength. Listening carefully, she could tell the rain had lessened and the wind had died down; soon, the sleepless and the curious would be getting out to observe the remnants of the storm, and Ayame needed to be away by then. Slowly she reached out and ate one of the rice balls, feeling better immediately. "There must have been medicine in that rice," she said to herself as she took her clothing off and wrapped the bandages around the worst bruises. The needle pricks she could do little about, though the needles themselves had strangely vanished. All the better.

Once she felt ready, Ayame stood and hurried back into the night, sticking to the shadows and hoping she didn't leave too much blood behind in her weakened state.

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"You're hurt," Rikimaru said bluntly.

"Its fine," Ayame replied.

"No, it isn't," the senior ninja said. "Whoever that enemy ninja was, he was quite skilled; your wounds haven't healed properly, and it's been a day since the mission."

"I'm fine!" Ayame exclaimed, before wincing and grabbing her stomach. "Well, maybe not…"

"You see? You can't even lash out at me without being debilitated," Rikimaru responded calmly. "I'm taking you to a doctor." There was a note of finality in his voice, that would not be argued with.

Ayame groaned, but submitted to being picked up by the muscular Rikimaru. "This is embarrassing," she muttered into his chest, where she was hiding her face from his glance.

To this, he merely chuckled. "Then you should be more careful next time."

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Many hours later, Rikimaru brought Ayame to a doctor's office. Both were now dressed in nondescript clothing; she was his sister, and she'd been beaten by some strange men last night while he had been away. He wanted to make sure she'd be taken care of while he sought vengeance upon the thugs. Or so he told the doctor anyway.

"So, will you take care of her?" Rikimaru asked at last, placing a bag of silver before the doctor. The doctor had been silent up until then, and Ayame, lying on an examining table, had not been able to look up at him; she was supposed to be unconscious, and could not spoil it by looking around. She could still hear, though, and listened as the doctor reached out and took the bag.

"I'll look after your sister, Mister Ren," he replied, and it was all Ayame could do to keep from gasping in horror and leaping to her feet; it was Tesshu!

"Thank you, Mister Fujioka," Rikimaru said, standing and bowing. "I leave my sister in your care, then. I'll be back when I've dealt with the rogues who did this to her in the first place." Then his steps to the door.

"Good luck to you, son," Tesshu called as the door slid shut. Then he turned, and even with her eyes closed Ayame could sense something different in him. "You can drop the act now, Azuma."

She opened her eyes, but did not move; she did not have her daggers, believing it wise to trust in her own unarmed ninjutsu if something were to happen. She knew that Tesshu was by far her superior in an unarmed fight, and with her wounds, she was rather helpless. "You're a doctor, too?" she asked.

He chuckled. "I am many things; hired killer is but one of them, though it pays the most. But today I am not the killer, the assassin; I am the doctor, and I have been hired to treat your wounds." He walked towards her, and she noticed he did not have the blue monks' clothing he'd worn the other night, but a simple white smock and black trousers rolled to the knee. It did not hide his excellent musculature, however. "Do not be afraid, girl," he said carefully, picking her up and taking her to a back room.

The first thing she noticed was that he was much stronger then Rikimaru; she could feel his muscles bulging, thick and powerful whereas her fellow ninja was sinuous and lithe. His hands were larger then Rikimaru's hands too, yet they felt no less skilled as they placed her on another table and ran over her body, quickly and thoroughly examining her. "Can you undress yourself? It will be easier without clothing…"

Ayame nodded and sat up to remove her peasants' outfit; she was not ashamed of her body, and did not shy from exposing it when necessary. Something about being around Tesshu made her nervous, though, and strangely reluctant to bare herself before him. "I… I'm only nineteen…" she muttered randomly as the last of her clothing fell away, and she sat naked upon the table, blushing furiously.

Tesshu's glance was swift and professional, and he shrugged dismissively. "I am twenty-five, so what?" he said to dispel the moment, turning to gather some equipment. "You are in excellent physical health, so this shouldn't take long," he said brusquely, returning to her with his tools and medical implements. "Lie back now."

His manner reassured her, and the flush left her cheeks as she stretched back on the table. Again his hands went over her, swift and competent, thought she thought he went a little slower now she was disrobed and supremely vulnerable. "No new injuries, I see," he said with a chuckle, as he rubbed a cool cream into her skin where the worst bruises were. It felt very good, and she closed her eyes and sighed, relaxing to his touch.

True to his word, the procedure took less then half an hour, and when it was over Ayame felt incredible. "Wow, I feel great!" she exclaimed as she pulled her shirt back on, with no small amount of relief. The bandages weren't too tight or loose, and that cream still left a nice cooling touch on her skin. "Thank you so much!"

Tesshu chuckled and waved her praise aside. "You flatter me, girl. It's just what I do, don't over exaggerate it."

"No, not this," she said. "I mean… you're a ninja, like me, and we could run into each other again on a mission… you could have crippled me here, or even killed me, but you didn't…" She knew she wasn't explaining herself right, but it was the best she could do.

Tesshu didn't chuckle then. "I said before, today I am not a ninja or an assassin, but a doctor. Yes, we may meet again one dark, stormy night, and we may fight once more. But a crippled ninja is as good as dead, and I would not see your life ended because of that. Besides," and now he chuckled, "maybe I want to run into you again, eh?"

That brought a grin to Ayame's lips. "I see… well, thank you anyway, then. I'm not sure when Rikimaru will be back, but you're done, and…"

Again, Tesshu waved her concerns aside. "Not for several hours, if he is to maintain the idea that he is going after mysterious thugs who disappeared in the night." He was rummaging in his equipment again; when he turned back, he had a handful of needles again. "I do acupuncture, as well. Want a treatment?"


End file.
